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Fresh from the pits of hell Svartsyn are back to bring darkness onto the world of the living. For the Swedish black metal scene Svartsyn has been one of the cult bands that you know always deliver sinister mid paced, traditional black metal that we all love. Originally named Chalice and formed in 1991 it’s one of the oldest bands still going with In Death being the bands 9th full-length release. Something very few bands can be proud of. That being said it’s quite hard to fathom that Svartsyn are not known by a wider audience than they are today. Not only due to the amount of albums they’ve released but because they’ve been such an influential band.

What you will notice from the get go is that fans of Svartsyn will feel right at home here. It’s just as brutal and devastating as ever, exactly what underground black metal is about. The song-writing is on point with In Death reeking of… you guessed it death, Satanism and darkness. Fans of the purest of Swedish black metal will definitely have a great time with In Death as it captures some of the best moments in Svartsyn’s vast discography and a lot of similarity with other Swedish black metal legends Ondskapt, Arckanum, Ofermod and Craft can be heard during the album.

My favorite tracks from the album are Dark Prophet, Black Thrones of Death and Exile in Death. Be sure to get In Death and support one of Swedens best underground black metal acts. In Death is out now through Agonia Records.

Atrexial comes from sunny Spain but it’s not all sun and rainbows over there. The band focuses on the brutality of death metal and mixes it with the elegance and darkness of black metal, blackened death metal at it’s finest. Souverain being the bands debut album.

Starting with a haunting instrumental intro you have heard in horror movies you know there is darkness brewing. The spaniards wastes no time and with The Hideous Veil of Innocence you get an onslaught of riffs and great quality blackened death metal that their piers in Behemoth would be proud of. And guess what? Atrexial doesn’t slow down and this is just the kind of brutal aggression I wanted in my music this Tuesday morning along with my coffee to wake up. This sheer aggression reminds me of Swedish black metal giants Dark Funeral or Valkyrja at times. Which is definitely music made for my ears!

Founding member Naga S. Maelström (Human Carnage and Cauldron) along with his two brothers in arms Louen (Nyctophobia) and Labelua (Ex-Ered, ex-Famishgod, ex-Abrahel) has created one of the best debut albums of 2017. There is nothing I dislike with this album really. It’s a powerful experience filled with horror, torment, darkness and death. Just the way mama used to make it. A mix of death and black metal made really well and quality songwriting that makes this a complete album. Favorite three songs on the album I would say are Catharsis Through Torment, Illuminatur and Shadows of the Nephilim.

Atrexia’s debut album Souverain is out now through Godz Ov War Productions. Also with this review I will start broadcasting the labels more at the bottom. Seing my main reason for reviewing albums is to promote the well made music from the underground it’s best to highlight the labels behind the bands as well. I hope you will like it.

Shaarimoth were formed in 2004 with the idea of creating a sonic construct that manifests dark current through music. “This is not music, this is ritual” is the first thing I come across when looking at Shaarimoth’s facebook page. When starting to listen to the album I am inclined to agree with that statement. I feel like I am at the black metal festival Mörkaste Småland and their fourth ceremony as the ascension of the dark lord is upon us. Seems like this kind of darkness could spawn only from the dark woods of Norway.

Musically there are a lot of influences to be heard here from Behemoth and Nile due to it’s death metal ritual like music. While I also draw parallels to Dissection’s lyric contents Shaarimoth got a mix that works. Funny enough Norway aren’t really known for death metal music, however they are for their satanic black metal. This draws some of the best from both worlds creating an entity that can portray Norwegian metal in a new way. The more I listen to Temple of the Adversarial Fire the more I think back on Behemoth’s award winning album The Satanist. The dark and satanic atmosphere, production, mix of black and death metal (or blackened death metal), riffs, vocals and lyrics got a lot in common with one of the best albums to come out this decade.

Shaarimoth (just as Earth Rot did yesterday) has surprised me. This is one of my favorite albums of the year so far. I can’t find nothing wrong with it and when I tried to pick a favorite song from the album I had to literally close my eyes and pick a song at random. That’s how good it is. It’s meant to be played in full to get the whole experience as it’s meant to be, as a ritual. Even the album cover screams of darkness and it’s the perfect way to wrap this package in. To end the review here is another quote from their facebook page that I like “To rid ourselves of our shadows – who we are – we must step into either total Light..or total Darkness”. Now join us to celebrate The End times, Kali Yuga, The return of the Dragon, when the Infinite Waters have finally turned calm.

Temple of the Adversarial Fire is out now through World Terror Committee.

Now this is the definition of a supergroup if I’ve ever seen one. Or what about this; AntiChristian (Tsjuder) on drums, Doedsadmiral (Nordjevel and Svartelder) on vocals and Shatraug (Horna, Sargeist and ex-Behexen) on guitar and bass. That’s representing some of Finlands and Norways biggest black metal acts of all time. Created 2014 Doedsvangr has obviously had a lot of hype surrounding them to see what beast they would spawn, and now the time is finally here. Satan ov Suns is the bands debut album and black metal fans all over the world be vary, this is some evil shit.

Fans of old school black metal such as Tsjuder, Behexen and Horna will find themselves right at home in this dark pit, as expected seeing the bands origin. Doedsadmiral is putting up yet another amazing vocal performance and he is surely one of the rising stars in the black metal scene. Veterans Shatraug and AntiChristian do what’s in all honesty expected from men of their calibre, a great display of skills by some of the best musicians in the world. If you wonder what the lyrical theme is it’s Satanism and everything around the occult. If there is one thing this trio can do extra well it’s spreading the darkness and evilness through music.

It’s quite hard to review an album made by some of the best musicians I know. For one I have insanely high expectations. When they actually live up to those expectations I find it hard to praise it as much as I should. Because it’s what I expect and I am not actually surprised a band featuring members of this level pulling this off. If it was a debut album from a band with new talent I would say this is the best debut of the year already showing itself. Now I am left here telling you this is a supergroup doing what’s expected of them, delivering an album of fierce satanic art that you need.

Doedsvangr’s debut Satan ov Suns is out now through Immortal Frost Productions.

Finnish black metal is from my experience usually very gritty and satanic. They don’t often touch the melodic side of black metal but today I have a promo from A Lie Nation, a Finnish band that does exactly that. Granted it’s a mix of different styles, or as A Lie Nation call it melodic extreme metal. However I choose to call it melodic black metal as that’s the closest genre I can put them into (don’t be a genre freak though, good metal is good metal no matter the genre). A Lie Nation was formed in Oulu 2009, then unnamed, took the name A Lie Nation in 2010 and released their debut EP Human Waves in 2015. Begin Hate is the bands sophomore EP and the band has really picked up the pace now.

The main reason I go for the black metal mentions is due to the vocals. Miikka Pyykkönen nails those black metal vocals and the aggressive, yet melodic sound surrounding him makes this a listen that make me draw parallels to the black and death masters Dissection and Naglfar. Along with other new Finnish black metal bands who somewhat differs from the old school Finnish sound like Paara and Kyy. From the beginning A Lie Nation captures me and the music evolves over time, the more you listen to Begin Hate the more you notice new things on the four tracks. They differ quite a bit in sound, Rot of the Spirit being a bit towards groovy trash and Shooting the Messenger captures the essence of melodic black metal as examples. My favorite track has to be A Burn Afar (Shooting the Messenger is a very very close second though). The slow acoustic intro with whispers leaves an eerie feeling until it blasts out into sheer black metal aggression, then change the tempo back again to beautiful acoustic harmony. The track is a perfect ending to a good album.

Begin Hate comes out April 5th via Inverse Records. I suggest you get it!

The Greek trio in Acrimonious have actually escaped my grasp and I only got to know about them when I saw they were going to support Valkyrja and Mgla on their tour. I am not even surprised anymore that I sometimes miss veteran bands, there is simply too much great metal to be able to know them all. Having been formed in 2003 Acrimonious is one of the older bands still kicking from Greece. Eleven Dragons is the bands third full-length release and it’s been five years since their last release Sunyata, which received a lot of praise from the black metal community.

Acrimonious plays the more standard, what you expect from today’s black metal, kind of style. Satanism and occultism is on the agenda, with shrieks and growls that gives you nightmares. The riffs are relentless and punishing, adding to that satanic feel and guides you to the depths of hell. The album is one of the longest ones I’ve listened to since I started this blog, clocking on one hour and six minutes. At first I was afraid that would make me lose interest after awhile but Acrimonious does a splendid job keeping the listener interested throughout Eleven Dragons. It’s nothing I haven’t really heard before but at the same time it’s so dark and well made I can’t help but to get sucked into this vortex that will lead me straight to hell. Acrimonious also feels like the real deal, I wouldn’t be surprised if they wrote this album while performing their black arts.

Over one hour might feel like a but too much for quite a few of you out there but don’t let the time get to you. This is fine black metal coming from the same circle of hell where Watain, Ofermod and Nightbringer resides. Eleven Dragons is out now through World Terror Committee.

Hailing from Brazil we got a band that I personally hadn’t heard of before in Carpatus. The band was formed in 1999 and were active until 2010, same year their guitar and bass player Ravager (aka Lucas Mandelli) sadly died in a car accident. Five years later Dizruptor picked up the band again, this time as a solo project (Animus Atra didn’t rejoin and instead Carpatus used Morbus Deimos on session drums). Since the reformation Carpatus joined Black Lion Productions and have been getting ready to release Malus Ascendant upon the world. Malus Ascendant is the bands third full-length (notable that this is the band’s first worldwide release).

Straight away you notice the musical influences. Malus Ascendant got a lot in common with the more melodic side of black metal looking at bands such as Emperor and Satyricon. The album is full of great melodic riffs that’s easy to get sucked into, with badass vocals resembling some sort of hybrid between Infernus from Gorgoroth and Ravn from 1349. Take into account that Morbus Deimos does a great job on the drums and you got yourself a sleeper hit (to me it is since I’d never heard of the band nor this album before writing this). If you got a soft spot for tempo changing black metal with melodic touches that doesn’t sacrifice any of the aggression, then this is an album for you!

The album is produced by notable Brazilian underground producer Marcos Cerutti, and was later mastered in Sweden by the legendary Dan Swano. That in itself states the band doesn’t hold back and is a stamp of approval that this is great black metal in my book. Malus Ascendant is out now through Black Lion Records.